Ilana Wisby

Ilana has both an academic and commercial start-up background. She gained a PhD in quantum physics from Royal Holloway, University of London, spending most of her PhD as a student in industry at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington. Ilana then entered the start-up world working between a number of start-ups – before settling on a software-development University of Surrey start-up company, Snap Out Ltd. The work at Snap Out focused on creating ‘innovative digital products’ – with product focus on artificial intelligence, computer vision and bot technologies. Ilana quickly gained experience and worked as product director and COO.

Ilana is now merging both her quantum and start-up worlds as CEO of Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), an early stage Oxford University spin-out company founded by Dr Peter Leek. Ilana is helping OQC is build the heart of a quantum future: employing simple, elegant approaches to provide real-world, near-term solutions using quantum computing.

Programme sessions

07:30 – 08:45

TechTonic Breakfast Session

TechTonic, the Oxford based forum for women in tech, invite you to join them for a breakfast session when four leading ladies from Quantum Computing, Autonomous Vehicles, Space and Digital Health will talk about their part in the life-changing technological revolution that has its roots in Oxfordshire.

Quantum Applications

Quantum computing is in its infancy but developments have already given rise to start-up companies using quantum technologies in novel ways. These include Oxford Quantum Circuits, a new approach to scaling superconducting based qubits; Oxford HighQ, using microcavities for chemical sensing; and Verivin, analysing wine without opening the bottle!

We also explore software innovations with NQIT, IBM Q and Cambridge Quantum Computing – on the challenges for programming quantum computers and developments in creating new quantum applications.